§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what recent examination of the performance of housing benefit delivery in the London Borough of Islington he has undertaken. [113673]
§ Angela EagleAs part of our determination to drive up the standards of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit administration, we have asked the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate to inspect the 30 local authorities which spend most on these benefits. The London Borough of Islington is included among these authorities and will be inspected this summer.
§ Mr. FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what will be the margin of error of the estimate of housing benefit(a) fraud and (b) error to be provided by the on going Area Benefit Review. [113817]
§ Angela EagleThe margin of error expressed as a percentage of estimated losses depends to a degree on the amount of fraud and error found in the review: the less found the wider the margin.
The current prediction for the first set of review data covering the period October 1999 to March 2000, is that the margin of error on the estimated value of losses will lie between +/- 10 per cent. and +/- 20 per cent. of those 806W losses. When data for the period October 1999 to September 2000 become available we expect the margin of error to contract.
§ Mr. FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many local authorities are covered by the Area Benefit Review of Housing Benefit. [113784]
§ Angela Eagle195 Local authorities have volunteered to take part in the Area Benefit Review of Housing Benefit.
§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what data his Department collates on the time taken to process(a) initial and (b) repeat housing benefit applications for each London borough. [113669]
§ Angela EagleThe Department collects data from all local authorities on a quarterly basis in relation to both new and renewal Housing Benefit claims. The data collected for both types of claim includes:
- the number of claims determined successful;
- the number of claims determined unsuccessful;
- the number of these claims ((a) + (b)) determined within 14 days of receipt of all necessary information.
From this April, Best Value performance indicators will be the main yardstick against which local authorities' performance will be judged. The indicators we have set for Housing Benefit delivery include new measures of the average time taken to process new claims and notifications of changes of circumstance, and the percentage of renewal claims processed on time. Local authorities will be required to set challenging targets for improved performance against these indicators year on year.
The Department has made arrangements' for data on performance against all the Best Value indicators to be reported periodically by authorities as part of the normal provision of Housing Benefit management information. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced to the House on 6 March 2000, Official Report, column 756, his intention to use his statutory powers to compel authorities to provide this information.
§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many tenants were evicted from(a) local authority, (b) housing association and (c) private rented accommodation in each London borough because of delays in payment of housing benefit in 1999. [113672]
§ Angela EagleThe information is not collected centrally.
§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the average cost, for each London borough, of the administration of housing benefit in the last year for which figures are available. [113670]
§ Angela EagleThe information is in the table.
807W
Housing benefit administration costs 1998–99 £ Local authority Average cost per case Barking and Dagenham 37 Barnet 110 Bexley 41 Brent 128 Bromley 114 Camden 105
Housing benefit administration costs 1998–99 £ Local authority Average cost per case City of London 206 Croydon 84 Ealing 176 Enfield 116 Greenwich 141 Hackney 118 Hammersmith and Fulham 139 Haringey 174 Harrow 110 Havering 91 Hillingdon 78 Hounslow 78 Islington 94 Kensington and Chelsea 194 Kingston upon Thames 82 Lambeth 105 Lewisham 222 Merton 65 Newham 205 Redbridge 190 Richmond upon Thames 101 Southwark 157 Sutton 121 Tower Hamlets 81 Waltham Forest 86 Wandsworth 86 Westminster 234 Notes:
1. 1998–99 are the latest figures available.
2. The "average cost" has been calculated as the cost per case using the authority's total expenditure on administration costs and the total Housing Benefit caseload.
3. The total expenditure on administration costs used in the calculations are those reported by the authorities to the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions on the RO4 forms. The caseload figures used are the Housing Benefit caseloads supplied by the local authorities on the Management Information Statistics Stats forms 121 and 122. The caseload figures for financial year 1998–99 were calculated by taking an average of the data for the four quarters May 1998 to February 1999.
4. As can be seen from the table, the average cost per case varies considerably between authorities. Different local authorities use different basis to calculate the administration costs they report. The reasons for the differences include the different mix of caseload the authorities have and their relative complexities to administer, and also the different components included in the total administration costs expenditure, for example, the treatment of overheads.
Source:
The information is as supplied on the RO4 forms to the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions by the local authorities.
MIS information supplied by local authorities on forms 121 and 122.
§ Mr. FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if remote access terminals are being installed with software that will automatically cross reference details of claimants of housing benefit with other benefits. [113624]
§ Angela EagleRemote Access Terminals are currently used by LAs to access a range of the DSS held information which is relevant to the administration of Housing and Council Tax benefit. Although there are no plans in place to install software for the purpose described, the Housing Benefit Matching Service performs a similar function. This quarterly operation cross808W references a range of DSS held data with data provided by the LAs. The results are then used to identify potential fraud and error.
§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security which local authorities, in each of the past three years, have been served with improvement notices on the administration of housing benefit. [113671]
§ Angela EagleThe Secretary of State has powers under section 139D of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 to direct an Authority as to the standards which it is to attain, in the prevention and detection of fraud relating to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit or otherwise in the administration of benefits. To date, we have not issued any such directions.
However, as my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State announced in the House on 6 March 2000, Official Report, column 756, we have warned councils that where investigation by the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate identify persistent failings, we will use our statutory powers to direct standards and timescales for improving performance.